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In The Myth of the Robber Barons: A New Look at the Rise of Big Business in America, author Burton W. Folsom told astory about the creation of the railroads in America. It seemed the government gave railroads more money if they ran across inclines or in more adverse areas. Generally where it was more difficult to build, they received more money. So railroads that took government money had very convoluted routes and were built in areas it wouldn’t have been if there was no government money.

The railroads back then knew how to get blood out of a stone.

Things haven’t changed that much, it seems:

A cargo train filled with biofuels crossed the border between the US and Canada 24 times between the 15th of June and the 28th of June 2010; not once did it unload its cargo, yet it still earned millions of dollars. CBC News of Canada was the first to pick up on this story on the 3rd of December 2012, and began their own investigation into the possible explanations behind this odd behaviour.

CN Rail, the operator of the train, stated their innocence in the matter as they had only “received shipping directions from the customer, which, under law, it has an obligation to meet. CN discharged its obligations with respect to those movements in strict compliance with its obligations as a common carrier, and was compensated accordingly.” Even so, they still managed to earn C$2.6 million in shipping fees.

During their investigation CBC managed to obtain an internal email which stated that the cars of the train were all reconfigured between each trip but that the cargo was never actually unloaded, because “each move per car across the border is revenue generated”, the sale of the cargo itself was inconsequential.